The fabulous banner is by the awesomely talented Ben Rostock.

Chapter 4

Giles was all right. He had hidden himself in a body storage drawer and the vamps who were after him had gone when they couldn’t find him. But that Borba guy that he had come to check out at the funeral home did rise as a vamp. Right there and then. Nutty as a fruitcake and strong with the manic power which that gave him. They all got knocked about a bit before Buffy managed to fling him into the crematory. He flamed up at once and that was that for the Anointed One.

Which should all have been very satisfactory, except that Owen had managed to tag along. Xander and Willow hadn’t been able to stop him from following Buffy and Andrew Borba had coldcocked and nearly killed him. Spike had been right in saying that humans were vulnerable.

And to put the cherry on top, Owen got all enthused about nearly getting killed. It seemed it made him feel all manly and alive, and he was jonesing to do it again. What he wanted for their next date was to go walking downtown at three in the morning and picking a fight in a bar. No way in hell was she going to be responsible for him ending up in hospital or in that crematory right next to Andrew Borba.

She glowered resentfully at Spike when he turned up on patrol the next night.

“No date tonight, pet?” he mocked. “Pretty boy got pissed, huh? Getting dumped two nights in a row. Not good for the male ego. But duty comes first, right, Slayer?”

“He came along.”

His brows shot up. “You took him with you? That must have been interesting. In the morgue now, is he? Or did he just run yipping off into the sunset?”

“He got off on it.”

Spike started to laugh. “Git’s got a death wish. He’s not gonna last longer than the next fight you drag him into.”

“Oh, shut up, Spike. Like I don’t know. I’m doomed never to have a social life,” she muttered glumly. “I told him we couldn’t go out anymore, but...”

“But you’d still be friends? Ouch.” He laughed at the look she gave him.

“But at least we got the Anointed One.”

“Uh...”

“What do you mean, ‘uh’?” She swung around to stare at him. “Don’t say ‘uh’ like that! Andrew Borba’s a pile of ash!”

“Yeah, but Andrew Borba isn’t the Anointed One. Anointed One’s this little brat of a kid and he’s already with the Master.”

“What? But he’s supposed to be a warrior! That’s what Giles’ prophecy said!”

“Guess it depends on your definition of a warrior. Doesn’t have to be Conan the Barbarian, you know. Just has to mean someone on one side or the other. Plus, age is irrelevant. Especially with a vamp. Brat might have been turned when he was just a kid, but God knows how old he really is. And kid vamps can be vicious little rats.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Buffy wailed.

“Didn’t know till I saw the brat with the Master, did I? Dropped in on the cavern to check things out this morning and there he was.”

“Things are going just great,” she sighed.

“Don’t get your knickers in a knot, pet. Not like you’re gonna have that much trouble taking him out if you have to. But I’d get Watcher looking into what the brat’s Anointed for. It won’t be combat. Gotta be something else. Better find out what.”

“Yeah.” She had started to seat herself on a tombstone, but moved away abruptly when he stepped towards her, uneasy with having him near her after what had happened last night.

He raised an amused eyebrow at her.

“Oh, sit down, Slayer. Not gonna jump your bones.”

She gave him a distrustful glance.

“Won’t say I won’t put the moves on you, but rape was Angelus’ game, not mine.” He hooked a hip onto a tombstone himself and grinned at her. “Offer’s always open though.”

“Why? Dru...”

“Dru’s not here, is she? Dru’s off fucking a Provilax demon.”

“So you’re getting your own back?” She bit her lip. “Gee, thanks. I’m really flattered.”

“Nothing to do with Dru.” His eyes had darkened. “You’re hot, pet. You’re a real turn-on, you are. Thought that from the beginning. You’d be something fierce in bed, you would. All that Slayer strength and stamina. It’s tempting. You’re tempting. Never done a Slayer before. Never even done a human. Too fragile.”

“Curiosity? That’s what it is?”

“Oh, more than that.” His gaze ran over her, lingering on lips and breasts and hips. She flushed and turned away. “But you’re curious too, aren’t you? That’s what that mating dance of yours was all about with the puppy last night. But it will be the same for you as it is for me, pet. Humans are too fragile. You’ll find that out. You’ll have to hold back all the time less’n you break ’em. And sex is no good if you have to hold back.”

Now there was a depressing thought.

“We’re matched, Slayer. Just like when we spar. You’ve learned that game from me. I could teach you this one too.”

“I’m not taking lessons in that from you, Spike!”

“You want it. We both want it. You can feel it, can’t you? The pull.”

“Oh, yeah. The attraction’s there. You’re hot, Spike, and you know it. Stay right there!” she said sharply, backing away as he started to get to his feet. “You’re hot, but I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re a vamp. Because it’s wrong...”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not like we’re tying ourselves to each other for life, pet. It’s just sex.”

“Because it’s just sex. I want more. I want to be loved.”

There was a small silence.

“Who doesn’t?” he muttered, then looked away.

“But that’s not gonna happen between us, is it?”

“Guess not.”

“So there it is. Discussion’s over and we’re not gonna talk about it anymore,” she said firmly.

He gave her a sudden, sideways, sloe-eyed look. “Nothing wrong with talking. I like to talk.”

“Damn it, Spike!”

“Whatever you say, Slayer,” he said demurely, but his eyes were flickering with laughter and provocation, and she knew that he would keep it up, like water dripping on stone, trying to wear her down. He didn’t give up. Not Spike. She knew him that well already. And he wouldn’t be able to resist teasing her like that, driving her crazy. Especially when they both knew that she was tempted.

The sparring didn’t stop. But she was holding him off now. The fights were ending in a stalemate and for a week he couldn’t take his triumphant sip of Slayer blood. Buffy felt really good about that. Between his training and her Slayer abilities, she was gaining on him fast.

“Won’t need me in a little while, Slayer,” he said, smiling.

“And then we do it for real?” she said dryly. So far she hadn’t been using her stake, not wanting to take the chance of dusting him, and he hadn’t been using his fangs, except for that drink if he won.

The month he had promised her was almost over, only a few days more to run.

He looked at her sideways and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Maybe.”

He reached out suddenly and flicked away the scrunchie holding her hair back, tilting his head to watch her hair tumble down onto her shoulders.

“Might have better things to do with you.”

She pressed her lips together in exasperation. “I said no, Spike.”

“So you did.” His eyes were amused, the tilt of his head provocative. “Pretty hair.”

His fingertips slid down a strand. Then before she realized what he was doing, they slid even lower to stroke between her breasts.

She flushed and struck his hand away. “Stop that!”

“You don’t really want me to.”

“Yes, I do!” But some part of her did want him to go on, against all thought and reason.

His mouth opened on another teasing remark, then his head jerked around suddenly.

“We’ve got company. See you tomorrow, Slayer.”

And he was gone. She looked around to see Xander coming towards her.

“Who was that?” he asked, staring after Spike.

“Just a fr...” When had she started thinking of Spike as a friend? He wasn’t a friend. He was the enemy. “Just someone I ran into.”

She wasn’t going to tell Xander who Spike was or that he was a vamp. Xander would tell Giles and they would both be shadowing her with crossbows after that, looking to take him out. Spike was none of their business. Spike was her problem and she’d decide what to do with him. She didn’t want Xander or even Giles, her Watcher, telling her what to do and interfering. She was the Slayer and Spike was Slayer business.

She wondered whether she was lying to herself.

“What are you doing here this time of night?”

Xander shrugged. “Thought I’d come and see how patrol was going.”

She didn’t want him doing that. Not only because then she wouldn’t be able to train with Spike, but because it was dangerous.

“And what if a vamp jumps out at you?”

“You’ll take care of it.”

“I might not be there,” she said sharply. “You go walking in graveyards at this time of night in this town, you’re going to get yourself eaten. The Order’s all over the place.”

“Okay,” said Xander sulkily. “I won’t do it again.”

It still bothered his male ego that he couldn’t do what she could. And the yen he had for her was strong. She had found that out a few days ago when he had tried to rape her under that hyena spell that had overtaken him and a few other students. Principal Flutie had died before she had been able to break the spell. Those students had eaten him. But only Xander had tried rape.

Deep-buried desires coming to the surface. That made her uneasy, knowing what was beneath Xander’s boy-next-door schtick. He wouldn’t try it again; only the spell had made him do that. But that he was capable of it made her wary. She could have understood if desperation had driven him to it. But it hadn’t been desperation. It was just a crush for him, not love; he hadn’t gotten to the point of love yet. Lust had motivated him, not love.

He was here right now because he wanted reassurance from her that she had forgiven him. Well, she did forgive him, because she knew that it was the spell that had released that in him. But she wouldn’t forget.

She let him come with her on patrol that night as he wanted. He was no danger to her. Even with that hyena strength, he hadn’t been able to best her. But it made her nervous that there was that darkness in him. There was darkness in everybody, she supposed. That was a new thought, that things weren’t as black and white as she had assumed. As Giles tried to make it. Xander had shown her that.

So had Spike.

He wasn’t pure evil, just as Xander wasn’t pure good.

The Council of Watchers wanted to keep things simple, so that she wouldn’t doubt or question, and so hesitate. But things weren’t simple. Things were complicated and now she was aware of that.

Don’t think, just act, said the Watchers. So did Spike, her friend, her enemy, the soulless vamp. But she was thinking now, seeing the grays, growing up.

He made her think, this vampire who sooner or later would try to make her the third notch on his Slayer killing belt. He had become her mentor, more than Giles, teaching her so many things, so much more than just combat.

She laughed involuntarily and Xander gave her a startled look.

“What?” he asked.

“Just a thought.”

Slayer trained by a vamp. She really would have the edge on all the other Slayers who had come before her. Spike laughed too when she mentioned that to him the next night.

“You’ll be the best ever, pet. I like that. I like a challenge. I like to take on the best.”

“Still so sure you’ll win.”

“Not anymore.” He grinned at her. “Another few weeks and you might take me, Slayer.”

“And you like that idea?”

“The risk’s what makes it fun, pet. Dancing over the abyss. Dancing with death. Don’t you enjoy it too?”

She thought about that. She didn’t think so. She wasn’t exactly like him. Danger didn’t turn her on. But the challenge did. She wanted to beat him. Wanted to win.

“Master’s up to something,” he said. “Darla’s finally healed of that holy water burn and the two of them have got their heads together. I’d go into defensive mode right now until you know what’s going down.”

“I’ll tell Willow, Giles and Xander to wear their crosses and be careful about who they invite into the house.”

He glanced at her suddenly. “Does your Mum know not to invite strangers into the house?”

Buffy’s eyes widened. “She doesn’t know about Slayers or vamps. But she wouldn’t do that!”

“Wouldn’t she? Only seen her from a distance, but she seems a right friendly lady. Could knock on the door, I could, and say, 'Hey, I’m looking for Buffy,' and she’d invite me right in, wouldn’t she? Any of the Order could do that, if she doesn’t know better.”

Oh, God!

“Dead or turned, pet. Master would like that. Would be a devastating blow for you, wouldn’t it? I’d clue her in, if I were you.”

She did, taking Giles with her to give her credibility. Joyce didn’t take it very well, even with all the books Giles brought to show her and Giles explaining them nonstop for an hour.

“You don’t have to believe us, Mom,” Buffy said. “Just don’t let anyone in. Giles and Willow and Xander are okay. But no one else. No one at all, doesn’t matter what kind of excuse they come up with. Promise me that.”

“All right,” said Joyce reluctantly and Buffy let out a breath of relief.

The Bronze closed for a couple of nights to exterminate their roaches, then opened again with a fumigation party—free drinks to anyone who caught or stomped a surviving roach. Willow and Xander dragged Buffy along and it was fun. It meant that she had to skip patrol that night and she fully expected Spike to turn up, if only to tease her about it. To her surprise, he didn’t.

Walking home after Willow and Xander decided to call it a night, she picked up vamp vibes as she passed the mouth of an alley. Not Spike’s. Members of the Order probably.

Buffy sighed and stopped. “It's late, I'm tired, and I don't wanna play games. Show yourself.”

There was a roar and a nasty looking vamp dropped down from a height above her and landed on the sidewalk behind her. Buffy yanked out her stake and spun to stake him. An even nastier looking vamp leapt at her from the side and grabbed her arm before her strike connected.

“Whuh?” exclaimed Buffy in surprise as the stake was knocked from her hand.

A third big vamp turned up on her other side and grabbed that arm.

“Hey!”

Before she could recover from the shock, she was dragged into the alley and slammed up against a chainlink fence in a singing clatter of metal. The first vamp came towards her menacingly.

“Okay, okay,” growled Buffy. “Look, I really don't wanna fight all three of you...”

She snapkicked him solidly in the groin.

“Unless I have to.”

She yanked her arms free from the other two, elbowed one hard and tried to punch the other. He blocked her swing and kneed her in the gut, throwing her back into the fence. The metal links clamored loudly with the impact. As Buffy gasped in pain, he and his partner grabbed her again, pinning her to the fence.

The vamp she had kicked in the groin recovered and approached her with death in his eye.

“Oh, come on, pet!” exclaimed Spike. “This is pathetic!”

Buffy’s head jerked around and she stared. So did the vamps. He was sitting comfortably on the fire escape a couple of feet above the four of them, one knee bent, the other leg swinging, and a disappointed look in his eye.

“I was expecting more of a show. Talk about being a pushover. You can do better than that! There’s only three of them.”

“Who the hell are you?” demanded a vamp.

“You must be from out of town. You the Three?”

“Yeah. And you must be one of the Master’s minions. Stay out of this. You don’t belong here. The Master hired us. She’s ours.”

“Wouldn’t dream of interfering. Just wanna watch. Might pick up a few pointers, you being such pros and all.”

“So watch. Just don’t get in our way. This is our job.”

“And it looks like an easy one,” said one of the others.

“Don’t count on it,” said Buffy and swung both her legs off the ground in a straddle kick, using the grip the two vampires had on her arms as the leverage point. Her feet hit them both in the face. They spun and she tore loose, landing neatly on the concrete. But the third vamp was flinging himself at her.

“Heads up, Slayer!” called Spike and tossed a stake at her.

She caught it and slammed it into the vamp’s heart. He exploded into ash.

“There we go,” said Spike with satisfaction.

The two remaining vamps gaped. Then one of them ripped a piece of iron bar off a basement window and swung at her with all his considerable strength. Buffy ducked, then snapkicked it out of his hand with one of the Thai moves Spike had shown her. The bar described a circle in the air, then clanged onto the ground on the other end of the alley.

“Accurate,” approved Spike. “Right on the money, that was. Very nice.”

“Who the hell are you rooting for?” one of the Three—now Two—roared. “She’s the Slayer! You’re a vamp, for Chrissakes! You oughta be ashamed!”

“Yeah, but you gits are so lame!” complained Spike. “The Three! Big whoop. Wee little Slayer’s kicking your ass!”

The two vamps bellowed in fury and flung themselves at Buffy.

“Oh, gee, thanks, Spike!” she growled as one of them grabbed her from the back as she tried to spin away, hoisting her right off the ground. The other was roaring towards her, fangs gleaming. “Had to piss them off, didn’t you?”

“Don’t you want a real contest, Slayer?”

“As a free show for you?” With both her feet, Buffy kicked the oncoming vamp hard in the gut, using the chest of the one holding her as a brace. As her feet came down onto the ground again, she threw the one holding her right over her head, slamming him onto the ground. Before he could recover, her stake slashed down. “This. Is. Not. A. Game!”

That vamp dusted.

“No, it’s a graduation,” said Spike.

The vamp she had kicked had staggered back, hit the wall just under the fire escape Spike was sitting on, and had nearly fallen. He found his feet now, staring, then suddenly swung on his heel, clearly intending to run.

Spike leaned down and casually staked him.

“What did you do that for?” exclaimed Buffy as the vamp poofed into dust. “He was running away!”

“That’s why. You told him my name, Slayer. And even if he didn’t remember it, he might have given the Master a description of me when he got back underground. Then old Batface would have put two and two together. No one’s told him I’m in town and I find I like it that way. Gives me maneuvering room.”

He jumped down lithely from the fire escape and struck her lightly on the shoulder. It was like an accolade.

“Well, Slayer, you passed. Want me to make you up a nice little diploma with some odd piece of parchment? Congratulations. You’ve graduated.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve been taking out minions for a month. You said the Master was upset by it.”

“So upset he hired this lot. Don’t know them, do you? They called themselves the Three. Professional assassins. The best. And you took them out, Slayer.” He grinned at her. “Not a greenhorn any more. Just lost your amateur status. You’ve made it into the big leagues. You’re playing with the big boys now.”

Buffy smiled involuntarily, then gave him a suspicious look. “So are we going to dance now?”

“Not tonight. You’re tired and won’t be top form. Wouldn’t be fair.” He adjusted the collar of her leather jacket delicately, his eyes very blue and half-lidded. The tip of his tongue was pressed against the edge of his teeth in mocking anticipation. “I’ll tell you when.”

She bared her own teeth. “Just say the word.”

He gave her back a smiling, deadly look. “Oh, I will.”

The next couple of nights were quiet, though Spike told her with satisfaction that the Master was furious. Buffy took out a few more members of the Order. They were so easy after Spike and the Three that she saw that Spike had been right when he said that she had only been facing fledglings before.

“Sloppy!” said Spike behind her after she had dusted the last one. She turned to see him frowning at her. “Getting blasé. Not bothering to keep a real guard up. Starting to get a swelled head, are you, now that you think you’ve finally made the grade?”

She flushed. She really had eased off the perfect form that he had taught her. The last few vamps just hadn’t been worth it.

“It’s just when you think they’re all fluffy bunnies that you find a scorpion in the mix. Can’t relax, Slayer. Think of them all as pros until after you’ve dusted them.”

“Yeah, sure,” she muttered, embarrassed.

He hit her suddenly with all his force, a straight shot that sent her staggering back to almost fall over a tombstone.

“Never relax.”

“Bastard!” She hadn’t expected that at all.

“Not your friend. Not a fluffy puppy with weird teeth. Not teaching you as a favor to you. Teaching you as a favor to me. Let down your guard and you’ll have me at your throat.”

“Is this the dance then?” She grabbed at the stake in the small of her back.

“No. You won’t need that stake. Not gonna kill you. Just teach you a lesson.”

“Maybe I’ll teach you one!”

They battled from one end of the cemetery to the other. Her stake remained in her waistband; his fangs remained sheathed. But other than that, they went at each other full out. After a while, she started to grin. She couldn’t take him, but he couldn’t take her either. They were matched now. She could see the laughter and enjoyment in his eyes.

Then her cell phone went off in her pocket. She glanced down, startled, and in that split second of distraction he slammed her up against a crypt wall and held her pinioned there with all his weight.

“Ah, there,” he said, exasperated. “You lost your focus again. Didn’t I warn you about that the very first time we fought? Take care of the thing in front of you first before you think of the next.”

“Sorry.” She was furious with herself. She knew better than to let anything distract her, especially when it came to an opponent as skilled as Spike was.

“Looks like I get my drink after all. Bonus!” He grinned down at her and blew her hair away from her neck rather than release his grip on her to push it back. “Didn’t expect to. Thought we’d end in a stalemate. But, hey, not gonna pass up a gift like that!”

“That’s not fair! If my cell hadn’t gone off...!”

“Life will trip you if it can, Slayer. Compensate or die. Sure it isn’t fair and, if I was one of those ‘nice’ boys you’re so big on, I wouldn’t be doing it. But evil here, yeah? And you’re that good at the game now that this might be the last sip of Slayer blood I get until the day I put you down for real. ’Course I’m gonna take it.”

He bent his head and she felt his breath cool against her neck, the prick of his fangs upon her flesh. She braced herself for the pain that he always made sure she felt when he bit her.

“And one more lesson,” he murmured.

His fangs slid into the vein. She caught her breath. No pain. His bite was smooth as silk and when the draw began it was excruciatingly slow. Instead of the pain, a heady, voluptuous rapture thrilled through her, setting her every nerve on fire. She sagged against the crypt wall, her knees turning to water and her whole body shuddering with pleasure.

She had never felt anything like this before in all her short life, that incredible sensation singing through her. She was drowning in it. And it went on and on, seemingly forever. Her body arced to his and her mind blanked out and she was hopelessly wet between her legs.

His grip had loosened and she could have pushed him away. But she was incapable of that. He was leaning heavily against her, pressing against her, and her hands came up to grip him even closer, her arms fierce about that hard, insistent body.

God, it felt so good! He felt so good.

His fangs slid out of her neck and then his mouth was on hers. She could taste the faint coppery tang of her own blood from where his tongue had licked the puncture wounds to seal them, but that heated thrumming in her veins hadn’t stopped, just kept building, and so she didn’t care. Their mouths twisted together, his tongue invasive and demanding, and her tongue thrust and stroked and sucked right back on his in unthinking response. She was on fire, burning, and his mouth and his body moving against hers only stoked it. She wanted more, much more, and her body moved restlessly, urgently, against his, instinctively searching for release.

“That’s the way I can make you feel,” he whispered, tearing his mouth away. “Think your nancy-boys can give it to you? I’m the only one can give you that, Slayer. Think of feeling that when you come. It’ll blow your mind. You’ll reach heights you’ve never dreamed of.”

He was drawing her downwards towards the grass and she almost let him, wanted him so badly that her body screamed for it and her brain was frying, just like he said, into nothing but blind heat and galvanic sparks. Then her Slayer instincts woke up and reminded her of exactly what he was, this creature filling her senses, shorting out her brain. Not a man—a vampire and an enemy and evil.

Her knees locked, holding her upright against his insistence.

“No,” she mumbled.

She had to remember as well that this was just casual sex to him. Meaningless. Just amusement and the thrill of having a Slayer. She had her pride, wouldn’t let herself be used.

“Very tempting,” she said dryly, recovering herself, painful as that was. “But the answer’s still no.”

“You want it.”

Oh, yes. Her whole body was shaking and shuddering, her breath rasping in her throat. He was gasping too, even though he didn’t need to breathe. He was as turned on as she was, his body hard and urgent against hers.

“Maybe. But it’s not gonna happen.”

“Maybe? Come on, Slayer! You want it as much as I do.”

“Why do you?” she muttered, puzzled. “Like I’m so hot.”

“Oh, you’re hot.” His gaze ran over her, then he shrugged when she lifted an eyebrow at him. “Slayer blood. Aphrodisiac.”

“Ah!”

“Still no, huh?” he said wryly. “But you’ll think about it now, Slayer. You’ll dream about it.”

“Don’t.”

His eyes were burning. “Now you know what it would be like, could be like. What I can do to you. What I can make you feel. And you’re not going to forget.”

She had a terrible feeling that as usual he was right. The temptation would always be there in the back of her mind. There wasn’t going to be a day now she wouldn’t be struggling with it as long as he was around.

“Won’t be used, Spike.”

“What’s wrong with being used?” he mocked. “I’ve been used all my life. No big.”

“Well, I’m not gonna be. And I’m not going to use you either.”

Something shifted behind his eyes and he stared at her.

TBC