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Real Me by CG again
 
Chapter 5
 
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“I’M GOING TO GO HOME!” I yelled over the music.

“YOU’RE GOING TO GO TO ROME?” Xander shouted back. He grinned at my look. “Kidding, Buff. The music’s not that loud.”

I shook my head. “Well, after this scintillating little date of ours, I need some nice, long Buffy time.”

No, I hadn’t moved on to the next guy yet. But I might as well have, given the amount of interest Riley had shown in me that night.

I had put on my sexiest non-slutty clothes earlier in anticipation for the “fun date” with Riley at the frat party. Riley had said all the right things, done all the right things, and everything had gone exactly as I had expected- for the first half hour or so. Then, Riley had been approached by a friend, spoke to him for like thirty seconds, and ditched me with barely an apologetic but distracted goodbye. If Xander hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have lasted more than five minutes. As it was, it had been fifteen and I was ready to go home and stew.

You’re being self-centered, I reproached myself, heading out the door. If Riley left, it was for a good reason. Something urgent must have come up. It must have-

I was physically torn out of my thoughts by a hand that grabbed me and pulled me into the bushes.

Instinctively, I swung my fist at my attacker, but another hand snaked out and caught it, twisting it behind my back and trapping it between my body and his.

His very cold body.

“We meet again, Big Sis,” his silky voice whispered in my ear. “Didn’t expect it’d be you, but s’justice, after what your sister’s put me through.”

I tried to stomp his instep, but he tangled his leg between mine and pulled it away.

“Spike,” I murmured, trying to pull away. “No…”

“Yes,” he breathed, and I heard the shifting of his bones as he vamped out and bent to my neck…

…And the pained shout a moment later when he recoiled, clutching his head and falling to the ground.

What in buggering hell did you do to me?” he roared.

Seizing my chance, I raced away and headed toward my dorm as quickly as I could.

When I finally fell on my bed, panting, I remembered Xander. Xander, alone, at the party, ignorant of the monster that waited outside. I called him frantically, but there was no response. “Dammit!”

“Care to spill?” Willow asked me from her bed. I hadn’t even noticed her in my frenzy.

“Will!” I jumped up. “We need to find Xander. There was a vamp at the frat party!”

Willow held up a hand. “Buffy, there are always vamps at that sort of thing, preying on the weak out-of-towners who don’t know much about Sunnydale safety yet. Xander does, and he’ll be fine.”

“But this isn’t a normal vampire. He’s…he’s…”

“Buffy, relax.” Willow came over to gently pull me back down onto my bed. “He’ll be fine. You think I never worried when we were at the Bronze? It takes time, but eventually, you get used to the fact that you can’t always keep your friends safe without stifling them.” There was a knock at the door, and Willow perked up. “See, there he is, now. Come in!” she called.

“You should really know better than that,” he drawled, opening the door and strolling in with casual confidence. “I was going to start with Big Sis, but stupidity must be punished and all that rot…”

Willow squeaked. My hand slid toward my pillow, where I knew I had a stake concealed.

Faster than I could blink, Spike was in front of me, knocking my hand aside. “Ah ah ah,” he cautioned. “No funny play or I’ll have to make it hurt.” He leered at Willow. “Now, Big Sis, show some manners. Who’s your little friend?”

I scowled. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to play with your food?”

He smirked. “Still so feisty. Sure it’s your sister who’s the Slayer? You’re much more fun.” He frowned. “Don’t know what exactly you did to me before, though, hurting me when I tried to bite you. Let’s see if Red’s got it, too.”

He moved to her, but she cried out, “Dissolvo!” A ball of light shot from her hand and threw Spike backwards.

I grabbed my stake and ran at him, but he batted it aside easily.

He rose, his vampire face emerging again. “Well, well, well, you’ve got a witch in the mix!” he said delightedly. “That explains it, then.”

“Explains what?” I muttered. “I didn’t do anything to you.”

His eyes darkened. “Oh?” He tried to pull me to him, but I dodged his grasp, heading half-heartedly toward the stake.

Instead he went for Willow, faster than she could say a spell, and bared her throat. He leaned in, and…

“AARGH!” He fell to the ground again, clutching his head.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?” In a fury, he grabbed a chair and threw it against the wall, smashing it into pieces. He rounded on me. “You! You and your sister, you did something to me!”

I backed away, more afraid of him than I had been since he’d walked in. Before, he had seemed somewhat civilized- okay, for a guy that ate humans. Now, he was like a cornered animal, furious and desperate. “We didn’t do anything! I swear! Something’s wrong with you, not us!”

His eyes narrowed and he pulled back his fist to hit me, but doubled over in pain instead. This time, he stayed on the ground, staring blankly at the wall. “This isn’t happening,” he whispered in a hollow voice, and despite myself, I felt a twinge of pity for him.

Then there was a loud explosion outside our door, a group of masked troopers like the ones I had seen the last time stormed into the room, and Spike was gone. We were nearly gone, too, but Willow did the ball-o’-light spell again and pushed a trooper back while we ran. When we returned a half hour later, the room was empty and no one was waiting for us.

My eyes lit up at the broken chair. “Ooh! Instant stakes!”

Willow grinned just a bit. “And there’s the silver lining.”

I sighed. “Will, I’m really sorry about…”

“Not your fault,” she said firmly. “I invited him in, remember? And everyone except poor old Mister Chair is still standing, so all’s good!” She frowned as she took in a shattered window. “And the window. Did we do that?”

I give her a wry smile. “Suddenly, I’m really glad Xander didn’t come here. Imagine explaining this to him!”

Willow snorted. “Are you kidding? I once accidentally summoned a vengeance demon while he was in the room, and all he did was ask her out!”

My eyebrows shot up. “What did she say?”

She giggled. “That she was the patron saint of scorned women and that he’d better keep an eye on his entrails! He got the message, even if it sounded more to him like a simple ‘you’re not my type!’”

We laughed together, a little shakily after our near-death experience, and got ready for bed. Life did go on, no thanks to Spike.

Only after the lights were out did Willow ask, “So, how was your date with Riley?”

--

Giles was talking to me. “You are the Slayer. You have a sacred duty.”

“What? No. Dawn’s the Slayer. I’m just here for comic relief,” I protested. We were standing outside of a large mausoleum in the cemetery.

Professor Walsh, my psychology professor, gave an unladylike snort. “Neither of you are the Slayers. This is such typical egocentrism. Kill one vampire, you think you can kill them all.”

I turned to squint at her. “When did you get here?”

“Can I be the Slayer?” Rick asked. “It’d be really cool. I hear you get free brochures.”

Professor Walsh frowned. “Only if you do your homework. No more of the ‘my demon ate my homework’ excuses.”

Mine,” a voice growled from behind me, and I knew it was Spike, but I wasn’t afraid. Instead, I leaned back into his arms. He pressed a kiss to my neck and pulled me away…and then we were on my bed, and he was lowering me down, his hands doing all kinds of things to my body that were making me thrash and moan, his voice murmuring my name as I arched toward him and…

“Big Sis! Big Sis! Buffy! Wake up!”

I jerked up, my eyes wide. “Spike!”

He leered at me from the broken window. “Sweet dreams, love?”

I flushed, driving the dream images from my mind. “You’re a pig. And what are you doing here? Still having trouble with the whole bitey thing?”

Spike sighed expansively. “Turns out I can’t even hurt anyone. It’s bleeding awful.”

“I’m so sorry for you,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m serious!” He looked at me pleadingly. “I went back to my lair, and Dru’s gone missing. There’s no one else who can help me.”

I laughed so hard I nearly cried. This was absurd! Absolutely absurd! “Y-You think I’m going to help you?”

He glared at me. “Well, it’s not like my minions are going to help! Soon as they realize I can’t hurt them, they’ll leave me to die, at best! Half of them still hate me for offing the Annoying One… And where else can I go? The Slayer? Angelus?” He guffawed. “I’d rather be dead.”

“Well, I’m not going to help you eat people!” I hissed. “I’d rather you were dead, too!”

“Come on, pet, I thought we had a…connection,” he wheedled, with an absolutely filthy glance at my bed.

Oh, God, he knew what I had been dreaming about.

I steadied my breathing and glared at him. “You’re sick. And the only connection we have is the one where you keep trying to kill me!”

“Buffy?” Willow sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes blearily. “What’s going on?”

“Red!” He turned to her, smiling disarmingly. I very suddenly understood all the girls who left the Bronze with strangers and never returned. “Mind if I crash here for a bit?”

“What?” She shook her head from side to side, as though trying to change the picture she now saw. “Is that Spike?”

An idea occurred to me. “Hey. Spike?” He turned to me, and I punched him in the nose. It felt satisfying.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?” he asked, glaring at me. “I’m helpless, remember? Defenseless!”

“He has a point,” Willow agreed grudgingly. His eyes shone with hope, but she continued. “Not that I’m saying we should adopt a pet vampire-“

“Oi!”

“-But it’s not like he can hurt us,” she finished. She was thinking rapidly. “And having Spike here might come in handy. Imagine all the anti-vampire spells I could test! There’s this great thing Ta- um, this other witch and I are working on, with a ball of sunshine, and-“

“I won’t be your bloody guinea pig!” Spike argued, but his eyes were beginning to gleam as he sensed his impending triumph.

I smirked. “You don’t really have a choice, do you? Sun’s coming up.” I nodded at the lightening sky. “But I don’t like this, Will. If whatever happened to Spike goes away, then what’s to stop him from killing us in our sleep?”

“I won’t,” Spike said with certainty. “You have my word. I won’t ever again lay a fang on you two.”

“Or your minions,” Willow added.

Spike sighed heavily. “Or my minions, if I ever have them again.”

“Or Dru.” I put in.

Spike gave me a look. “Don’t push your luck.”

I glanced outside. “You know, with this broken window, I’ll bet the sun’ll be even brighter than usual when it comes in today,” I said conversationally.

“Alright! If I can stop her, Dru too. I can’t guarantee more than that!” he said finally.

“Why should we trust your word?” I retorted skeptically.

He rolled his eyes. “Bloody hell, woman, what does it take?”

“Fine. Whatever.” I reached under my bed and pulled out a plastic container full of winter blankets. “You can cover the windows with these. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Got space in that bed for two?” Spike smirked.

I buried my face in my pillow. “Shut up, Spike.”

Seriously. What was I thinking?
 
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