Author's Notes: Thank you to sallyntmare beta'ing for me, you're awesome! Also, thank you to Behind Blue Eyes, laura, crazylife, Veronice, Embers and Flame, and Eyghon for the review!! I love to hear from my readers, makes me want to write even more! Banner made by me :)


She would be awake soon... She would open her beautiful eyes and look around, take in the surroundings, hear all the commotion with her newly heightened hearing and take her first unneeded breath. God, she was so going to hate him.

 
He had turned her into the one thing she feared to become, but the worst part of it was that a part of him was happy about it, ecstatic even. He was bubbling with joy over the fact that he now had the chance to be with her forever, his love for her stretching beyond eternity.


He snorted. 'Yeah, be with her forever. That's exactly what she will want,', he thought, turning his face away from her for the first time in hours. He couldn't stand to see her like this, so... limp and unmoving. He was used to seeing her so vibrant, so full of life. He took that from her. He took everything from her. 


She would more than likely stake him because she had no ties to him. Aside from the childe/sire connection, she had nothing to hold her to him. There were no records, that he knew of, of a Slayer being turned before this. There was no knowledge of how much a Slayer would retain of their former selves after they have crossed over to the demon world. It was possible that Buffy would still be Buffy, but with bloodlust. If she were still just Buffy, provided she keeps her soul, she would have no problems staking him and walking back to her life with the Scoobies and the potentials, he was certain of it. 


“You claimed her too.” The First said in the form of Darla, suddenly popping herself into existence directly in front of him, effectively blocking his view of Buffy.


When Spike looked up incredulously, obviously not knowing of what 'claim' Darla was talking about, she continued, “You know, the claim you placed on her while you drained her...”she dragged out and rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips as she waited, giving him the chance to process. 


Spike scoffed as he leaned to the side so he was able to fix his gaze on Buffy once again. “Reading my thoughts now, too?” he asked, his eyes never leaving his childe.


“Don't you know it, Willie.” Darla giggled as she knelt down to his eye level, once again blocking his view of Buffy. “I can do whatever I want with you, and you're powerless to stop me.”


Spike puffed out his chest, trying to look more defiant, even though he was weakened, defeated. “I won' let you control me anymore,” he replied with what he thought to be certainty.


“So, if I told you to go and stake her, right now, you wouldn't?”


Spike's eyes widened in shock, but he shook his head, motioning ‘No‘, desperately trying to convince himself that wouldn‘t be possible. He knew The First could still control him, no matter what he thought, and it terrified him that it could make something like staking Buffy possible.


“Oh, really?” Darla said, then shook her head as she laughed manically, before she started to hum the song that triggered his obedience.


Spike's hands shot up to his ears, covering them as he closed his eyes and started to hum his own tune, trying to drown out her voice.


He could still hear her in his mind, so he hummed louder, shaking his head. It didn't matter though, he could feel the anger inside of him building. The loss of control and hatred had sunk in, filling every fiber of his being.


His eyes snapped open and he suddenly stopped humming. His hands moved from his ears as a slow, evil smile spread across his face. Darla took a step to the side to allow him a clear visual of Buffy.


Standing up quickly, Spike grabbed the wooden shovel handle that the Slayer was using as a stake before and he walked the five steps it took to get to her motionless body. He raised the makeshift stake up, aiming for Buffy's heart as his demon started to hum along with the tune that continued behind him. He brought the stake down swiftly, but the First hollered for him to stop, so he did, only centimeters from her heart. He stayed completely still, his breathing heavy and his eyes trained on the spot where his childe's un-beating heart was. 


Darla chuckled and snapped her fingers, successfully releasing him from submission. “She is about to wake up,” she said before she blinked out of existence.


Spike shook his head out of the daze he was in and gasped, fully aware of the stake that was now poised over Buffy's heart. He threw it away with a roar, then slumped to the floor, picking her head up to rest on his lap. “Come on now, luv. Wake up,” he whispered, lightly rocking them back and forth.


As if she heard him, she suddenly woke up. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly jumped to her feet. Her eyes darted around, not remembering where she was or how she'd gotten there. All she could remember was...


“Spike?” she whimpered and turned around, searching for him, but was unable to locate him.


Suddenly, she felt someone clinging to her legs, nuzzling against her thigh and sobbing words of apology. She placed her hands on his shoulders. She had difficulty sorting out all of the emotions she was feeling, but the one emotion that stood out perfectly was the uncontrollable rage that was bubbling up inside of her chest, trying to claw its way out.


She savagely pushed him away, turning around once again so she wouldn’t have to look at him. She walked towards the farthest wall and reached out for it, placing her palms on the cool, scratchy surface to support her body. She turned her back to the wall and leaned against the brick and started to shake. What was going on with her? Why did she feel this way, and why the hell wasn't she breathing?


That fact only added to her disorientation, but freaked her out the most. She took a deep breath and winced as she felt her lungs expand for the first time in what felt like weeks. She coughed and rubbed her chest, trying to soothe the shooting pain, but it didn't help. She slowed her breathing down to short jerky gasps and threw her head back, harshly connecting with the wall behind her. She didn't care though, she squeezed her eyes closed and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.


She couldn’t figure it out, didn’t know what to do, couldn’t speak. She tried to calm herself down enough to be able to deal with everything. When she felt calm enough, she looked up as it all flooded back to her. That night-following Spike into the basement, fighting the vamps... Spike biting her.


He turned her. He said rude and hurtful things to her before he drained her dry, turning her into one of him. She felt rage rip through her, finally working it's way through her entire body. She lowered her head so she could look at him. When her eyes finally landed on his, she was angry for a matter of two measly seconds, when it suddenly disappeared, like someone pushed a button and released all the pressure in her body. How could she be angry at that face?


Spike was still sitting in the same place she had awoken in, his knees bent up to his chest and his arms now around himself instead of clinging to her legs. He was slightly rocking back and forth as he stared up at her, tears slowly sliding down his cheeks. He looked so broken, so defeated.


She felt a strong need to comfort him, to console him, to just make him feel better any way possible. She took a shaky step toward him as if she was being mindlessly pulled, but she tried to squash that feeling down. This was Spike, for Christ's sake! She wasn't supposed to have warm fuzzies toward him! 


She tried for a moment to cover her feelings for him with anger, but it wasn't working. All she wanted to do was scream to the high heavens that he was hers and there was nothing anyone could do about it.



She felt her face shift, changing into her vampire visage. She leaned forward and let out a deep roar, causing Spike to flinch. When she finished, she just stood there, watching as a slow, shy smile started to spread over Spike's face. He knew that the vampiric roar wasn't out of anger, but of affection and staking one's territory.


She felt the need to show possesion over him, but didn’t understand what that meant. 


Her head was spinning, everything going out of focus, as she fought the urge to bend down and bite him.

Her basic instincts telling her that would strengthen the childe/sire bond, but she wasn’t ready for that just yet.


Instead, she ran, ignoring the pleading calls from behind her, telling her to stop.



TBC