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12


Holding hands as they strolled through Sunnydale’s extensive collection of cemeteries, Spike couldn’t help but smile at the grumbling that streamed from Buffy’s lips.

There were no demons around tonight, not even one lousy little vampire fledgling. Absolutely nothing. Which was fine by Spike, he could get his kicks from sex more than the Slayer could, she needed violence and sex to sate her inner desires. This was fine when there were things running around for her to kill, but up here there was a strange lack of anything. It was almost like they’d come out on Halloween or some other night where demons felt it better to stay home.

“Wanna fight?” Buffy asked, turning to Spike and bouncing on the balls of her feet, waiting for an answer. She was desperate for some kind of violence, even if it meant having an all out brawl with Spike in the middle of Shady Glen.

Shrugging, Spike stepped backwards, circling the Slayer as if she were his prey. Falling backwards into a fighting stance, Buffy readily circled around, watching and waiting for the perfect time to make the first move.

Knowing his mate’s pride in starting and finishing fights, Spike lashed out quickly, pissing Buffy off and making her throw herself at him, eager to show him that she could beat him anytime she wanted.

Laughing maniacally, Spike threw himself into the fight, fists and fangs versus pure fury, the pair evenly matched in skill and style.

Fists punched, feet kicked and fingers scrabbled for purchase as they battled, each wanting to beat the other for no other reason than victory.

Spike landed a hard punch to Buffy’s solar plexus making her gasp loudly, drawing in air quickly to overcome to pain he had caused. Grinning to show his lack of remorse, Spike danced back, his duster swirling around him. The duster he had reclaimed from the dirty floor of the mansion courtyard just days before from where he had shrugged it off after dumping Dru in the car all those years ago and coming back in to the mansion to claim some of their belongings. If he hadn’t returned for their stuff, Dru would never had followed him back in to save her Daddy and they would never have been sucked into Hell. This meant he would never have fallen in love with the Slayer. Shrugging at the implications, he let Buffy land a hit to his nose, cursing loudly when he felt the pain radiate across his entire face.

Throwing himself at her with renewed passion, neither of the warriors felt the presence of the half dozen soldiers surrounding them until it was almost too late.

“Spike!” Buffy screamed, her vision swimming from Spike’s last punch to her temple, but she could see at least six soldiers surrounding them, some hideously transformed with two heads until she shook her head, clearing her vision. Her warning had come a second too late for her mate and he was currently incapacitated, writhing on the floor in agony from the electric currents flowing through him from the soldiers weapons.

Rage seeped into every pore in Buffy’s body. No one hurt her mate except her. Launching herself at the soldiers, Buffy felt freed from her body. It was almost like it had a separate mind of its own, and its mission was to destroy the enemies and the threat they posed to Spike and herself.

Looking up from his place on the floor, Spike stretched out his body, cracking his spine while his muscles recovered from the electric shocks they had received. A slow smile spread across his face despite the fact that he was in a tremendous amount of pain still.

His girl was seriously kicking some arse. She had taken down all but two of the soldiers who were currently trying to catch her with their taser beams. Ducking and dodging the electric blue currents that were flying through the air at her, Buffy found reserves of strength and energy she never knew existed as she battled against these seemingly human men, taking them down faster than she had thought possible, with little or no hesitation at their human status. They had dared to hurt her mate and she was screaming inwardly at the pain she felt flowing through from him and this was her way of dealing with any kind of pain. Take it out on someone else.

Noting that all the soldiers were unconscious or possibly deceased, Buffy slowed, sinking to the floor beside Spike to catch the breath she didn’t even realise she was holding.

“Bloody good show pet.” Spike chuckled.

“What was their problem?” Buffy grumbled, reaching over and ripping camouflaged balaclavas away from soldiers faces to reveal broken noses, swollen and discoloured features and relatively human appearances. “Reckon they’re with that guy Faith knew?” She mused, pulling Spike up to his feet and walking amongst the bodies of the young men.

“One way to find out.” Spike replied, plucking a radio from the breast pocket of a fallen soldier and pressing the transmit button. “Your men are dead.” He growled into the mouthpiece, not expecting a response so quickly.

“Who is this?” A nervous voice queried.

“Name’s Spike.” He found himself saying, intrigued as to who would be stupid enough to reply. “Yours?”

“Er, Andrew.” The squeaky voice responded, “What happened on the field?”

“Field?” Buffy snorted over Spike’s shoulder. “We’re in a cemetery not a field!”

“We killed your men.” Spike told the whelp in a low growl.

“Hey! I killed them, not you!” Andrew heard the distinctively female voice claim making a shudder run down the length of his small body. He had taken this job for extra cash, his parents pushing had convinced him that joining the army had been a worthwhile career choice. He was starting regret that decision more and more every day.

Just the other day, a demon had escaped from its cell, running rampant across the containment facility, killing three of the laboratory technicians. Of course, they had tried to tell him that it was a deformed animal, but he knew better, having experimented with his older brother in high school, unleashing all manner of hellish demons on school functions.

Switching off all communications with the apparently deceased soldiers, he ran a report through, scanning the voices he had recorded from the radio and calling his supervisor for assistance in tracking the bodies of the fallen men.

This job sucked, he thought to himself. He knew better than to voice these opinions aloud. He had seen what happened to workers who changed their mind about their job. Their screams had haunted his sleep for weeks after.

Stopping off at the butchers, Buffy and Spike had picked up the blood they had pre-ordered and made their way to the nearest seven-eleven to pick up some food for Buffy before quickly returning to the mansion.

Those soldiers had unnerved Buffy when she had stopped to think about it. They had targeted Spike with unnatural precision, hitting him simultaneously with their tasers, when anyone with a brain cell knew that Buffy would have been the first choice to take down if they were trying to kill them. Girls were supposed to be the weaker sex. Why take down Spike first and waste their energy and resources on him when it would surely be easier to take down her first and then focus on him. Unless they were just after him. They had taken Spike down and turned their backs on her, almost forgetting she was there until she had thinned their ranks in mere seconds.

It was only then that had considered her a threat. Did they know Spike was a vampire?

“Quit worrying love.” Spike whispered in her ear, holding open the door to the mansion and ushering her inside. Quickly calling down Angel and Drusilla from where they spent most of their time in their bedroom, Spike quickly heated up the cooled blood over the roaring fire for all three vampires while Buffy told their tale of tonight’s events, interspersed with Spike’s comments and Drusilla’s cryptic statements.

The small family quickly finished eating and left for Revello Drive as planned, their journey was short and silent as they kept an eye out for more soldiers or even demons and vampires.

Reaching Buffy’s old home without seeing a single person out and about, Spike’s suspicions were confirmed when Angel stayed outside after the other three had entered Joyce’s home, scanning the area quickly and calling Spike back outside through his sire-childe bond.

Confirming that Buffy and Dru were currently talking to Joyce and the Watcher, the two master vampires took seats on the porch steps.

“Government demon hunters?” Angel asked the younger vamp cynically.

“Fuck knows.” Spike shrugged. “They knew what I was. Armed to the teeth with wooden stakes, silver daggers and toy gadgets. Made a bloke wonder y’know?”

“Why ignore Buffy?” Angel looked at his grand-childe, waiting for an answer that would make sense.

“They weren’t prepared for her. Might not’ve heard of her?” He frowned, “Or maybe she just didn’t register as a vamp?”

“They used tasers?”

Spike nodded in confirmation, grinding the butt of his cigarette onto the decking and flicking it into the shrubbery around the house.

“Took me down in seconds.” Spike admitted, “Weren’t the first they’d done it by the look of it. Shame they underestimated my girl though.”

“Buffy just killed them?” Angel couldn’t help but ask, unable to understand how Buffy had overcome her morals so suddenly. He was sure it was Spike’s influence on her.

“Most of them. She din’t do it on purpose, she just lost it.” He chuckled, “Only stopped when the last one hit the floor.”

“Hey fella’s, not joinin’ us?” Faith asked, pushing between the two vamps that blocked the porch steps and making her way inside the house. It was a damn shame those two were taken she thought with a smile, greeting everyone present as she took a seat opposite her sister Slayer.

Joining everyone that was assembled in the living room, the two master vampires flanked their ladies as usual, listening intently to the conversation while they mulled over the possibilities of the emergence of these soldiers.

“Love the hair.” Anya interrupted the boring conversation regarding Buffy patrolling with Spike.

“Thanks.” Buffy smiled warmly at the former demon. She seemed nice enough, even if she did look as bored as Buffy felt. She wished she could look that bored, and then maybe people would let her off these sleep inducing discussions of whether or not Spike was having a negative influence on her morals and habits.

“Anyway,” Giles continued, “Surely you would be better suited to patrolling with Faith?”

“You’re either insulting my skills or Faith’s here Giles.” Buffy replied, leaning forwards, “You might want to be more careful who you insult.”

“S’not like we need babysitters G-Man.” Faith added, “We’re both wicked strong.”

“Plus, we can always call each other if we need help.” Buffy added, raising a few eyebrows from her audience.

“And how, pray tell, would that work?” Xander asked sarcastically, “’Cause I’m not sure the Slayer package extends to super duper hearing.”

“She means in our heads.” Faith clarified, remembering the silent conversation they had had just that morning whilst they had continued talking aloud with Willow and Xander. It was baffling how they had managed it and Faith was more than amazed at how she had been able to separate the two conversations so easily.

“In your heads?” Joyce queried, looking at Buffy. “Like you told me today?”

Nodding, Buffy smiled reassuring Faith. “We’re connected through our souls.” She explained to Giles, giggling when he removed his glasses and began to polish them rigorously with his handkerchief.

“So can Faith connect to Spike?” Willow asked curiously.

“No, why?” Buffy questioned.

“Well you said Spike shares your soul, so surely Faith is connected to both of you.” The young redhead replied.

“Oh, Spike shares my soul, but he still has his own soul. He has a vampire soul. We only share when the claim is renewed.” Buffy explained with a small smile. This personal invasion was starting to grate on her nerves.

“There’s no such thing as a vampire soul.” Xander snorted, reaching for a cookie off the coffee table.

“Of course there is silly.” Anya corrected her boyfriend, “Everything has a soul.”

“So, back to me and B,” Faith butted in, seeing Buffy’s annoyance at the turn of the conversation. “It’s cool, we’re fine. We’ll patrol together if we want.”

“No.” Spike said quickly, looking to Angel for back up. “It’s too dangerous at the moment.” He frowned. “They’ll be after Buffy now.”

“Who will?” Faith scowled at the implication that she wasn’t good enough.

“They will.” Angel replied, nodding his head towards the laser pointers that shone clearly against the window panes in the dark night.

“Everybody get down!”