Chapter 2

Buffy knew her friends would never understand, but all of the yelling was really starting to get to her new super hearing. She called a Scooby meeting at her house the next day, only to have all hell break loose the second she admitted to being a vampire. Whether her heart beat or not, it still broke to see Giles reaching for a stake, only to have him put it away the second her mother made her presence known. She yelled at them for a good ten minutes, and Buffy was relieved to see everyone starting to calm down.

“Okay, can I finally talk now? Yes, I’m a vampire, but I still have my soul. You guys don’t have to worry about me going off on a killing rampage. I still feel like me, not much has to change,” Buffy explained, repeating Spike’s words.

“How did this happen?” Willow wondered, still in shock that her best friend was now one of the creatures she fought every night.

Buffy thought of what to tell them, without completely revealing the truth. “I was attacked on patrol and Spike found me bleeding to death. He saw that I didn’t have much time left and decided to turn me. He knew I would probably kill him for it, but in his own way, he thought he was saving me.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” Xander ranted. “Spike murdered you, and he just gets a free pass? I knew you should have dusted that bleached menace years ago.”

“I’m still here, Xander, would you rather I be dead? I was upset and freaked at first, but I get why he did it. This is who I am now. I hope you guys can accept that because I would hate to lose your friendship, but if you can’t, then I guess there’s nothing left to say.” They all walked out and Buffy turned teary eyes back on her mother. “Do you think they’ll come around?”

Joyce nodded. “I believe they will, it just might take some time.”

“I’m still freaked; I just didn’t want them to know how much. Everything is different for me now, there’s no chance of ever having a normal life. I know you wanted more for me and I’m so sorry that I can’t give it to you.”

“You’re still my Buffy, nothing can ever change that,” Joyce said, wrapping her arms around her distraught daughter once again.


* * * * *


It was a few days later when Buffy made her way to Spike’s crypt, figuring she couldn’t avoid him forever. She was assaulted by the stench of booze when she barged through the door, seeing the bottles and clutter that littered the ground. She headed down to the lower level, only to find Spike completely passed out.

“My sire, I feel so proud.” Instead of waking him up, she lay down next to him, taking in his disheveled appearance. “I don’t know what you’re so upset about. You finally bagged your third Slayer, you should be thrilled. Of course, I’m not sure what you hoped to accomplish by turning me. You’re stuck with me now.”

“I could think of worse fates,” he mumbled, his eyes slowly opening to peer up at her. “You look good, pet.”

“Sure, not bad for the recently undead.”

Spike sat up, praying for the room to stop spinning. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Everything go well with your mates?”

She laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, it went great, I’ll be lucky if they don’t try to stake me in my sleep, but my mom is a hard ass. They’ll find it’s not so easy getting by the warden. I guess it could have gone worse. Have you just been here the last few days getting drunk?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time. Buffy, you have to know how bloody sorry I am for this. I’m sorry that I turned you into the one thing you hate the most, but I’m not sorry that you’re still here. I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but I’m in love with you. Have been for a while now, I just couldn’t let you die. Not when it was my own stupid fault.”

As far as confessions went, that was the last thing she expected to hear. “I’m not sure how to take that. You love me, so that’s why you decided to turn me? Look, I get it now, this may not be what I wanted, but I’m not ready to be free of this world yet. With Glory on the loose and everything with Dawn, I need to be here. At least this way, I’ll be stronger.”

“I’ve never turned anyone before, but I promise I’ll be a good sire to you. I’ll help you take on Glory, anything you want. I don’t care if it takes a hundred years, I will find a way to make it up to you,” Spike claimed.

Buffy gave that some thought. “A hundred years, I guess it’s possible I could live that long now. I’ll have to watch everyone I love move on and eventually die, while I’m stuck like this forever.”

He took her hand in his, giving it a light squeeze. “I know it’s not much coming from me, but I’ll be with you through everything. You’ll never have to be alone.”

She nodded. “I guess that’s something, assuming we would even be able to survive each other for that long. You’re bound to do something to piss me off.”

Spike smiled. “I have no doubts about that, but hopefully it won’t be anything that would make you want to stake me.”

Buffy shook her head. “No chance of that happening now, I have a feeling we’re going to need each other. I should be getting back. I need you in top form for whenever Glory makes her presence known again, so no more drinking. The upstairs looks like a tornado hit it. Stop feeling guilty about what happened, there’s nothing that can be done about it. I’ll just have to deal.” With that said, her stomach growled loudly, she would have blushed if it was possible.

Spike stood up. “I’m such a wanker, of course you’re hungry.” He headed to his fridge and took out a packet of pig’s blood, warming it up in the microwave and handing it over to her. “It’s not the good stuff, but it’ll have to do for now.”

Buffy scrunched up her nose. “It’s not like I have anything to compare it to.” She bit into the blood bag, draining it down in two big gulps. It didn’t taste as bad as she expected.

Spike got her another one until she was good and full. “I’ll stock up on more tomorrow. We can keep some at your house if your mum doesn’t mind; she used to have some on hand for me whenever I popped in for a visit.”

“That would be good, exactly how many times have you been at the house when I wasn’t there?”

He shrugged. “Not sure, maybe a few nights a week when you were out patrolling. She was always an easy person to talk to, didn’t treat me like a freak. I think she knew of my feelings for you, but she never told me to stay away.”

“Yeah, my mom’s always liked you, I never understood that. She hated Angel,” Buffy admitted.

“With good reason, if you ask me.”

“Ugh, Angel, there is no way I can tell him about this. He’ll stake you for sure.”

Spike scoffed. “He can try, but as much as I hate to admit it, the wanker is family. He’s bound to find out.”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it,” she told him. “I have to get going before the sun comes up, but I’ll be back tonight. Your chip won’t be an issue with me anymore; I was hoping we could spar. I’ve really missed fighting with you.”

He grinned. “I’ve missed that as well, until tonight then. I promise to remain sober.”

Buffy flashed him a grin of her own, making her way out of the crypt. Maybe this whole vampire thing won’t be so bad after all.